Frank Garcia

For 16 years, Frank Garcia, 53, has hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for thousands at his Anaheim restaurant, La Casa Garcia. Preparing the feast takes weeks, and the work exhausts him for months. But instead of doing less this year, Garcia has decided to take on more, by starting an outreach program to help the young, the old and the poor all year long. Garcia has ambitious goals for We Give Thanks, his nonprofit organization.

For 16 years, Frank Garcia, 53, has hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for thousands at his Anaheim restaurant, La Casa Garcia. Preparing the feast takes weeks, and the work exhausts him for months. But instead of doing less this year, Garcia has decided to take on more, by starting an outreach program to help the young, the old and the poor all year long. Garcia has ambitious goals for We Give Thanks, his nonprofit organization.

Most people in Orange County know Frank Garcia best for his incredible Thanksgiving generosity: Each year, he closes his Casa Garcia restaurant in Anaheim and turns it over to the needy, providing upward of 11,000 free meals. But to the regular customers of the Chapman Avenue establishment, it's the authentic Mexican fare that comes out of Garcia's kitchen. One of the most popular items is menudo, the fabled south-of-the-border hangover cure.

Most people in Orange County know Frank Garcia best for his incredible Thanksgiving generosity: Each year, he closes his Casa Garcia restaurant in Anaheim and turns it over to the needy, providing upward of 11,000 free meals. But to the regular customers of the Chapman Avenue establishment, it's the authentic Mexican fare that comes out of Garcia's kitchen. One of the most popular items is menudo, the fabled south-of-the-border hangover cure.

While you and I were watching the USC-UCLA standoff last Saturday, Jeanne Sleeper and Frank Garcia were counting turkeys. They need a lot of them--about 200 they figure--to feed the 3,000 people to whom they will play host outside Garcia's Mexican restaurant in an Anaheim shopping center today. When I talked to Sleeper about 5 p.m. last Saturday, she asked me how the game came out. She said there wasn't even time to check the score. That's how fast the birds were coming in.

There was a minor crisis at La Casa Garcia last Friday afternoon. It seems that the people who had agreed to contribute a half-dozen portable potties had to renege; the potties they planned to deliver to Frank Garcia on Thanksgiving Day were unexpectedly committed for a construction site. Since sanitary regulations frown on entertaining 5,000 people sans potties, replacements would have to be found. No problem.

For the third consecutive year, Anaheim restaurant owner Frank Garcia is planning a free Thanksgiving dinner for an estimated 10,000 poor and homeless people in one of Orange County's largest such volunteer efforts. Garcia's first two free feasts, which included live music, floral centerpieces and a full-course meal, drew as many as 5,000 people. As in those events, hundreds are expected to be bused in this year by Salvation Army volunteers.

Frank Garcia didn't mind staying up all night to roast hundreds of turkeys, stir up gallons of gravy and make sure everything was cooking just right for his annual Thanksgiving Day feast. It's his way of giving thanks. Garcia will hold his fourth annual "We Give Thanks" celebration today, serving free turkey dinners out of the parking lot of his Anaheim restaurant, La Casa Garcia.

An alleged Blythe Street gang associate was charged Tuesday with the killing of a 4-month-old boy who was shot when gang members opened fire in Van Nuys on a group they believed were rivals from another gang, authorities said. Alfonzo Landa, 17, was charged as an adult with murder, six felony counts of attempted murder and attempted carjacking for his alleged role in the Sept. 27 slaying of Andrew Garcia, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

At Great American First Savings Bank, Rollie Ayers, Frank Garcia and Linda Gumtz have been promoted to senior vice president.

Frank Garcia didn't mind staying up all night to roast hundreds of turkeys, stir up gallons of gravy and make sure everything was cooking just right for his annual Thanksgiving Day feast. It's his way of giving thanks. Garcia will hold his fourth annual "We Give Thanks" celebration today, serving free turkey dinners out of the parking lot of his Anaheim restaurant, La Casa Garcia.

For the third consecutive year, Anaheim restaurant owner Frank Garcia is planning a free Thanksgiving dinner for an estimated 10,000 poor and homeless people in one of Orange County's largest such volunteer efforts. Garcia's first two free feasts, which included live music, floral centerpieces and a full-course meal, drew as many as 5,000 people. As in those events, hundreds are expected to be bused in this year by Salvation Army volunteers.

There was a minor crisis at La Casa Garcia last Friday afternoon. It seems that the people who had agreed to contribute a half-dozen portable potties had to renege; the potties they planned to deliver to Frank Garcia on Thanksgiving Day were unexpectedly committed for a construction site. Since sanitary regulations frown on entertaining 5,000 people sans potties, replacements would have to be found. No problem.

While you and I were watching the USC-UCLA standoff last Saturday, Jeanne Sleeper and Frank Garcia were counting turkeys. They need a lot of them--about 200 they figure--to feed the 3,000 people to whom they will play host outside Garcia's Mexican restaurant in an Anaheim shopping center today. When I talked to Sleeper about 5 p.m. last Saturday, she asked me how the game came out. She said there wasn't even time to check the score. That's how fast the birds were coming in.

It was a murder investigation that began more than three years ago when a pair of hikers discovered Ron Baker's mangled corpse lying near the mouth of a railroad tunnel at a Chatsworth park. Baker, a 21-year-old astrophysics major at UCLA, had been stabbed 18 times. His throat was slashed so badly his head had nearly been severed from his slightly built body. Los Angeles police detectives initially thought the body was that of a transient who had been hit by a train.

There were 3,200 nominees this year for the President's Service Awards, but only 20 will be going to the White House to receive a silver medallion for their volunteer work. Two of them are from Orange County--Frank Garcia of Anaheim, left, and Phillip Stevens of Newport Beach.